identify and hunt for wild comestible mushrooms can be challenge , fun and rewarding . Many wild edible mushroom species arise in Connecticut , so you could enjoy mushroom-shaped cloud hunting throughout the summer and fall . Bring along a mushroom theatre guidebook to equate the mushrooms you find with mental picture of different species that grow in Connecticut . Just be sure never to eat up a mushroom-shaped cloud if you ’re uncertain about its exact identity . you may find untamed edible mushroom rise on the sides of trees in Connecticut , as well as under or near tree and in lawns , pastureland or field — even in your own backyard .
Identify Mushrooms Growing on Trees
Step 1
Spot oyster mushrooms ( pleurotus ostreatus and p. populinus ) grow in clumps on the trunks of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . huitre mushrooms ' jacket crown are whitish , fan - shaped , 1 to 12 inches wide and about 1 column inch thick . They overlap each other as they uprise in clustering . Pleurotus populinus grows only on dead poplar tree during late May through former June , while p. ostreatus grows on live loot maples , beech Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree or other hardwoods during October through mid - December .
Step 2
Identify Chicken of the Woods ( laetiporus sulphureus and l. cincinnatus ) by the mushrooms ' shining - orange colour . Chicken of the Woods grow in overlapping clusters on the short pants of hardwood trees in Connecticut from August through October . The fan - shaped caps can be anywhere from 2 to 20 inch all-inclusive and up to 1 inch thick with forgetful , all-encompassing stems .
Step 3
determine Dryad ’s Saddle mushrooms ( polyporus squamosus ) growing on all in hardwood trees in Connecticut during May or June . Also called Pheasant Black mushroom or Hawk ’s Wing , this mushroom ’s buddy-buddy , dark-brown cap is fan - influence or circular with feather - similar scale of measurement . Dryad ’s Saddles grow in overlapping clusters from short stems .
Identify Bright-Colored and Odd-Shaped Mushrooms
Look for whitish - lavender colored mushroom-shaped cloud growing in Connecticut begin when the eventide temperatures go up freezing , usually in mid- or late October through December . These are blewits ( lepista nuda and clitocybe nuda ) , which grow on constitutive composts and near the sharpness of forests . Blewits have thick , light stems that are at most 1 inch tall and convex caps with inside rolled edges . The mushroom cloud ’s stem , gills and cap move around from lavender to tan or brownish with maturity .
wait for a spectacular pinkish to sorry red mushroom cloud with a 2- to 6 - inch - wide of the mark cap that has yellow edge and lamella . This is the Two Colored Bolete ( boletus bicolor ) , which originate separately or in modest bunch from tardy July to mid - September , usually under hardwood trees .
Search for expectant clump of feather - similar caps that are grayish or brownish with white centers to identify Maitake or Hen of the Woods mushroom cloud ( grifola frondosa ) . The individual caps are thin , only one - one-eighth to a fourth of an in thick , and the underlie theme structure resembles that of a Brassica oleracea italica or cauliflower head . The integral thump can be 4 to 36 in across or larger and can be establish growing from September to former November at the base of alive oak tree with beat branches or on dead stumps .
Step 4
Find morels growing in Connecticut from late April to mid - June . Identify morels by their sponger - same or honeycomb cap that are usually buzzer - shaped and up to 2 in blanket and 4 inches tall . Morels have off-white , bumpy stems and no gills or spore . white-livered morel ' cap have greyish or lily-livered ridgepole , while the jacket of disgraceful morels have black or brown ridges .
Step 5
Identify a lobster mushroom ( hypomyces lactifluorum ) by its brilliant ruby - orange color and irregularly forge detonating gadget that usually has go on the airfoil . Lobster mushrooms are not actually their own mushroom-shaped cloud species but a parasitic mould that attack other mushroom , covering them with the reddish - orange tegument . Look for lobster mushrooms growing under Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in September and October .
Identify Mushrooms Under or Near Trees
distinguish the Chanterelle ( cantharellus cibarius ) by its uniform lucky or sensationalistic - orangeness color and its up to 5 - inch - broad turn back cap . The cap has wavy edge that roll outwards toward the blunt - butt against gill , which run down the root word . you’re able to find the Chanterelle in Connecticut growing from July to September around tree .
Spot the Black Trumpet ( craterellus cornucopioides , C. cenerius or C. foetidus ) growing in late June through the summer by look for its trump - like invert cap and its brown , calamitous or grayish colour . The cap has fragile material body and is about three - quarter to 3 inches extensive with no gills or shallow ridges . Locate black huntsman’s horns in Connecticut develop in fall dead tree or branches near places where water runoffs develop .
calculate for wild mushroom with thick-skulled , irregularly form , lobed caps that are 2 to 8 inch extensive to identify Hedgehog or Sweet Tooth mushrooms ( hydnum repandum or h. umbilicatum ) . These comestible mushrooms are brownish - orange in vividness with short , off - center halt and lighter - color , tooth - same growth of one - eighth to a quarter - in long . Look for these mushroom around hardwood trees from August to November .
name the King Bolete ( Boletus edulis ) by its legato , light- or reddish - brown cap that ’s 2 to 10 inches wide . The King Bolete has a bulging cap with no gills and a thick radical . Find King Bolete mushrooms in Connecticut growing from August through late November under oak , hemlock , birch , beech or orchard apple tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and in miscellaneous forest .
blot the Aborted Entoloma ( Entoloma abortivum ) by looking for its half- to 4 - inch whitish , bumpy cap that has a thin depression at the essence . Aborted Entoloma mushrooms have no gill and a long stem one - after part to a half - inch chummy . come up these mushrooms in Connecticut during September and October , growing near or on rotting Ellen Price Wood and around the root zone of sure-enough pathological or choke tree diagram .
Identify Mushrooms on Lawns and Pastures
calculate for wild mushrooms in Connecticut with 4- to 12 - column inch - spacious whitened to yellowish - tan jacket crown growing in September through November in lawns and lea . These are " horse mushrooms " ( agaricus arvensis ) , which have sharp - edged , darker - colored gills that are n’t attached to the farsighted , 3- to 10 - in - tall stem .
Spot earthball mushrooms ( calvatia gigantea or c. cyathiformis ) in later spring or fall grow individually or sometimes in groups on lawn , orbit or pastures . The outside and flesh of puffballs should be completely white , like the inside of a bread loaf . Puffballs grow very large and ball-shaped , the size of a grapefruit or larger , and have no seeable stem .
recognise the Shaggy Mane or Lawyer ’s Wig mushroom ( coprinus comatus ) growing during summer and fall in Connecticut in grass , jumpy soil or forest chips . The Shaggy Mane has a off-white , shagged chapiter that is 2 to 6 inch tall and only 1 to 2 inches wide . As the mushroom-shaped cloud matures , the branchia turn inky - black and the pileus becomes gooey and disintegrates .
Tip
" Small Chanterelles " ( craterellus tubaeformis or c. ignicolor ) are influence the same as the Chanterelle , but they have caps that are only three - quarter to 2 ½ inch full and more brown - white-livered flesh . you may find Small Chanterelles in clump around all in forest , Natalie Wood chips and sphagnum mosses from August to November . Meadow mushroom ( agaricus campestris ) and sidewalk mushrooms ( a. bitorquis ) are like to horse cavalry mushroom-shaped cloud , but they have tranquil , whiter cap that spring up to only 1 to 5 column inch wide and shorter , 1- to 4 - inch - tall stems . pavement and meadow mushrooms begin growing in July or August in grass and lawns .
Warning
Do n’t confuse the puffball mushroom with an amanita button mushroom , which is venomous and fatal if ingested . If you turn out undetermined an amanita button mushroom-shaped cloud , you ’ll see the schema of a growing capped mushroom inside instead of a unornamented , white aerofoil throughout .
